In the same way, the French refer to them as Allenmands, and the Russians call them Nyemtsi.
Roman government records preserve the first known use of word. A listing of officials, from 222 B.C., carved in stone, uses the Latin form Germani to refer to the Germans.
The word comes from the Celtic language, as historian Jan von Flocken writes, and probably indicates the sylvan nature of the Germanic homelands, i.e., that the German tribes, in the perception of the Gauls, often lived in, near, or around forests:
Der Name «Germani» wird erstmals in den Fasti capitolini, einem römischen Beamtenregister aus dem Jahre 222 v. Chr. erwähnt. Er stammt aus der keltischen Sprache und kann am wahrscheinlichsten als «Bewohner eines Waldlandes» gedeutet werden. So nannten die Gallier ihre Nachbarn rechts des Rheins, weil diese nicht in Städten, sondern in waldumstandenen Einzelgehöften wohnten.
So it was the a Celtic term was adopted by the Romans to refer to the Germanic tribes.
The French word for ‘German’ derives from the name of one particular Germanic tribe, and was generalized to refer to all the tribes. The Russian word derives from a Slavic term for ‘those who can’t speak our language,’ which, from the Russian point of view, the Germans would have been.
